Microbial metabolism of carbon monoxide in culture and in soil

Abstract

Nocardia salmonicolor readily oxidized CO to CO2. Slight activity was found among species of Actinoplanes, Agromyces, Microbispora, Mycobacterium and other nocardias and no oxidation was detected in the algae, fungi and other bacteria tested. Carbon monoxide was oxidized rapidly to CO2 in the dark in two soils incubated in air or under flooded conditions, but little of the 14C from 14CO was incorporated into the organic fraction of these soils. The reaction was microbial because appreciable CO was not converted to CO2 in autoclaved or gamma-irradiated soil. Heating the soil for 25 min at 70°C destroyed its CO-oxidizing activity. The incorporation of 14CO2 into the cells of microorganisms in soil and soil suspension was not enhanced by incubating the samples in the presence of CO, suggesting that CO oxidation was not the result of autotrophic metabolism. The oxidation of 17 μl of CO liter in the head space was nearly complete in 6 h in soil incubated in air or anaerobically.